Before I even bring up Ana Mighty Sound (website), let me state that I abhor rebuilt cartridges. They are to me, unholy, defiled, inferior, and more often than not, a far cry from the real thing. It is like having your Ferrari serviced by the corner garage operation, or your Rolex tempered with by some counterfeit watchmaker, or worse, having an operation performed by an unqualified surgeon. Even when the cartridge comes back looking like it’s good as new, which it seldom does, something always feels off when I play the repaired cartridge, which is why I always put them up for sale upon their return from repair. If you’ve been playing vinyl long enough, the big “OH SHIT” moment of breaking a cartridge is bound to happen sooner or later. It could be your sweater snagging the cantilever, or your cat jumping onto the platter, or it could be you squishing your cartridge’s suspension by accident. There are no shortages of silly ways of breaking your cartridge. When François Saint-Gérand, owner of Ana Mighty Sound from France, contacted me at the end of the 2019 Munich Show and handed over four of his rebuilt Ana Mighty Sound TSD-15N cartridges […]
